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Corporate Social Responsibility in Nelson & Marlborough

At Johnston Associates South Chartered Accountants in Nelson and Marlborough, we take our corporate social responsibility very seriously, and we think you should too, because believe it or not good corporate citizenship could make a real difference to your bottom line.

When we talk about Corporate Social Responsibility we’re not just talking about sponsoring a local sports team or giving prizes to charity auctions, although those are good things to do too! We’re talking about a bigger picture, that is often referred to as the Triple Bottom Line, (TBL or 3BL). If your business embraces this accounting framework, it will consistently ensure that its key objectives always aim to improve performance in three areas, social, environmental and financial.

Social – It’s important to respect your employees, your community, your key partners and stakeholders, together with the region you do business in. If you invest in your communities (both externally and internally) you become a business where people want to work. You’ll suffer less attrition of employees, meaning that your workforce becomes increasingly valuable. You’ll need to spend less on initial staff training and will be able to invest in your team’s professional development instead. It’s important to remember that people do business with people they like. Nothing has changed here since trading in the market place in the middle ages!

Environmental – It’s no secret that green has become fashionable. But in reality your business needs to do more than add an email signature, saying please respect the environment by not printing this email. It will cost you money initially to invest in sustainability, but constant investment to reinvent your products or services to ensure you keep abreast of rapid environmental changes and challenges will certainly help attract your future customers and staff.

In a Salt survey of 1,500 16-20-year-olds in the UK, US and Singapore, at least two-thirds said that businesses have a responsibility to help create a better world and make “doing good” a central part of their business, and not just by giving to charity. Perhaps most telling is that nearly three-fifths of respondents said it is OK for a business to make a profit from making the world a better place. To younger generations, a socially responsible business not only invests in worthwhile projects outside of the company, but also takes good care of employees. (Source The Guardian)

Financial – Under the TBL framework for corporate social responsibility when evaluating profit, you need to consider not just your internal profit, but also the economic benefit enjoyed by your employees, your community and your key partners. Ask yourself the impact your company is having on society as a whole, you should aim to maximise this, as well as your internal profit.

At JAS we have forged many links with organisations in both Nelson and Marlborough to ensure we fulfill our Corporate Social Responsibility. These include: